Crafts at the 34th Annual Washington Folk Festival, May 31 and June 1, 2014

Art Glass Center

“Art Glass Center at Glen Echo Park”

A group of long-time students at the Glen Echo Park Art Glass Center will be displaying and selling their work, which uses a wide variety of fused glass styles, materials and techniques. They will offer jewelry, small functional glass items and larger one-of-a-kind art works. They will be happy to explain the different materials and techniques used.

Anne Alden

“Fringe Benefits”

Anne knits decorative scarves for day and evening and for all seasons. She is lavish in combining different materials and textures using traditional yarns, recycled sari silk, fringe, ribbons including laddered ribbons, "eyelash" and sparkling yarns and fabric strips. The result is long, lightweight, lacy scarves that, as she says, “lusciously drape around you."

Kelly creates imaginative jewelry that reminds her of the California beaches where she grew up. She uses a very wide variety of materials: shells, natural rocks and gems from the sea and the earth including wood, abalone, seed beads, mother of pearl, cultured pearls, agate, glass, Swarovski crystals and azurite.

Unique and colorful tableware, glassware and wine accessories decorated with glass beads and silver wire. In addition to liking the appearance of Melanie’s decorated pieces, many customers find they are easier to hold than standard tableware.

Michelle creates handmade soaps and other hair and skin care products. Her soaps are made “from scratch”, using olive and other natural oils, shea butter, goat or coconut milk, herbs, essential oils, colorings and fragrances. Many are vegan. She offers a wide variety of special-purpose soaps including shaving soap, sea salt soaps, and shampoo bars as well as other hand made hair and skin care products.

Edward Faine publishes his own children's stories, illustrated by local artists, as well as two adult books on music and musicians. His books for children of various ages have been reviewed as capturing "how a small child thinks" being both funny and thought provoking. Edward also performs as "The How-To Cowboy" for children at schools, festivals, parties, etc. and teaches kids how to whistle through an acorn – or their tongues, play hand trumpet, tie a neat knot, and talk like Donald Duck. He says, "Stop by the booth for a free lesson."

Bill makes lathe-turned objects, including conventional bowl forms and one-of-a-kind natural-edge pieces, making the most of the wood’s texture, irregularities, grain and color. Rita woodburns original designs on boxes, magnets and pendants made of wood and other natural materials. Her drawings feature textured, carved effects enhanced with layers of translucent color.

Carl Gotzmer has been building musical instruments for more than 30 years. In addition to mountain an hammered dulcimers, Carl and co-workers Kent Hibben craft obscure European mountain zithers, bowed psalteries, and original design instruments such as the Cellomer. June Apple is the only maker of early American dulcimers in styles that go back to 1740. They have made three mountain and two hammered dulcimers for the Smithsonian.

Paul Goland

“Hardscrabble Enterprises”

Paul will be selling his home-grown fresh and dried shiitake mushrooms plus grow-your-own supplies: oak logs impregnated with shiitakes, or mushroom "spawn" if you want to make your own logs. He has written a book on mushrooms of West Virginia and his business sells many mushroom related products.

Shawnee folds colorful Japanese washi paper into whimsical origami pins and earrings. She also makes bracelets and art-to-wear necklaces using traditional Japanese braiding, “Kumihimo”.

Laura Hummel

“Painted Whimsey”

Laura makes one-of-a-kind mixed-media creations for home and garden, using a variety of papers, paints, found objects and vintage items. Her work includes birdhouses, watering cans, travel journals, handmade books, and papers, mail art envelopes, and boxes.

Letitia is an artist working primarily in oil paint who participated in the Richmond Folk Festival before moving to this area. She creates vibrant, richly colored and textured images of children, old folks, dancers and musicians, sports, landscapes, cityscapes and much more. Many of her images feature African-American themes. She will be offering prints of her work as well as original works of art.

Cynthia makes wearable art jewelry using copper, bronze and other metals as well as a wide variety of other materials. Her designs are inspired by her travels in the American Southwest and throughout the world. She uses metal smithing, wire-working and enameling to make her one-of-a-kind necklaces, earrings and cuff bracelets.

Lisa and her family make unusual musical instruments such as African kalimbas and cigar-box resonator guitars ("dobros"). The also make unusual jewelry which includes natural shapes such as leaves, and incorporates scroll-sawed coins, paper "playing card" images and other objects.

Custom silk clothing with a whimsical touch. Each item is made from pure silk, hand-dyed. Many are trimmed with colorful appliqué to create a wide range of cloaks, skirts, dresses, scarves, purses and more. Each piece is unique, whether in its dyed color or the choice of appliqué. Designs may be paired with our hand-made coordinating jewelry. Designed to fit women in a wide variety of sizes and body types.

Karen has been a fiber-arts teacher and award-winning craftsperson for over 40 years and has co-authored two books of knitted toy designs. Her current work is inspired by her Scandinavian ancestry and her New England roots. Shaping fiber into sculptures, she creates Scandinavian gnomes and trolls, as well as charming woodland creatures. Her work ranges from shaping huggable creatures suited to the rough-and-tumble of children's play, to sculpting unique, carefully detailed folk-art figures for adult collectors.

Howard and Audrey Stelzer

“How-Aud's Creations”

Howard makes metal jewelry of all types. using silver, copper, and brass along with semi-precious stones. Audrey crochets lightweight spring and summer scarves.

Handmade flowers of air dried clay, displayed in lifelike, graceful arrangements. Sunisa’s specialty is orchids, but she also makes many other varieties of flower including roses, irises, calla lilies, bird-of-paradise flowers and many others.